Montreal

This is a necropost - resurrected from one of my ancient sites - detailing some of my year studying in Canada.

17/09/1999

"Terry - you coming to Montreal with us this afternoon?" "uh...yeah..?" A quick stop by the bank to see how they had lost my $1000 (a long winded and most distressing story) and we were set to go.

A 2 hour bus ride took me, Jas, Dave, Nicola, Alison, Ingrid, Monique and Tianna to the heart of Montreal - which, it turns out, is sex town.

The hostel we booked said they wouldn't be able to pick us up and we'd have to make our own way to our beds. Not to be dissuaded we walked the length and breadth of the strip clubs in the search of food.

Well, one 12 inch sub, a scary look at the metro and a bumpy 20 minute bus ride later we found ourselves at the hostel.

"It's very... Bohemian," I said, diplomatically. "It's a shit hole," said Dave in a brusk Northen sort of way.

Julia and her Germanic beau were ment to meet us at the hovel.. hostel.. whatever.

"We're just out for a breath of fresh air," we said to no one in particular.

And off we ran, past more sex emporiums (where we briefly considered selling ourselves to get a room for the night) we found a charming little coffee house which, we figured, if nothing else would imbue us with enough caffeine to keep us going throughout the night.

As I suckled upon a Icepresso (perhaps a poor choice given the whether) the ladies got busy telephoning various hotels in the guide book. Things got a little desperate when we found out the 350 bed YMCA was full but, due to the presence of lucky commemorative quarters we found a pair of rooms. Hurrah!

On the way we met Julia - quite by accident.

Once settled in our gorgeous little rooms we got dolled up for a night on the town.

Up and down we pranced until, eventually we found a smashing bar with a gas heated garden. There we partook of much alcohol based merriment.

So - our new nick-names. Jas - er... Jas Nicola - Mom (for endless devotion to ensuring our well being) Ingrid - Snazzy Pants (for wearing some extraordinary floral trousers) Monica - Where is Monica (based on the fact that we managed to lose her several times that evening) Terry - Terry Dave - Twinkle (Lord only knows)

Moved to some other clubs were we were very tardily reminded that service was not included.

Of course no good night out is complete without a Kebab. Nice chicken 'bab.

Went to "The [gay] Village" to find Jas and (in a stunning break with expectations) did. The Village was very strange - I don't think I've ever been anywhere that wears itself on its sleeve quite as much as there - all very cool.

Spent the night in bed with Jas listening to the couple above us squeaking the bedsprings.

18/09/1999

Managed to lose Julia on the way to breakfast.

Did serious sight-seeing then decided to hire some tandems.

Then we met Julia again. Obviously she is drawn to ourselves like bees to honey (or flies to shit). Much buttock bashing later we had successfully learned to ride tandems. Several near misses later and playing the "Where is Monica" game, we returned to our sight-seeing and shopping trip.